Street Art Cities

The mural depicts the Hawaiʻi Mamo (Drepanis pacifica), an extinct species of Hawaiian honeycreeper.

The art captures the bird's striking appearance: a large honeycreeper known for its vibrant black and yellow plumage and a long, sickle-shaped bill, perfectly adapted for collecting nectar from native flowers. The mural pays tribute to a creature of immense cultural significance in pre-European Hawaiian society. The Hawaiʻi Mamo's vivid yellow feathers were highly prized, woven into magnificent feather cloaks (ahuʻula) and hats, reserved exclusively for Hawaiian royalty (aliʻi).

The mural serves as a poignant reminder of the bird's tragic fate. The high demand for its feathers to create these ceremonial garments was a significant factor contributing to its decline. The Hawaiʻi Mamo, one of the first Hawaiian honeycreepers documented by Europeans, is now a symbol of a lost species, a ghost of Hawaiʻi's rich natural history.